In Beach Enclave, Affluent Are Split Over Effluent

The question of how to treat wastewater in an exclusive California beachfront community is pitting neighbors, surfers and environmentalists against one another.

REGAN MORRIS

RINCON POINT, Calif. — Septic tanks or sewers? The question of how to treat wastewater in this exclusive beachfront community is pitting neighbors, surfers and environmentalists against one another.

Surfers have long complained about getting sick at the world-class surf break here that straddles Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties. And blame for the pollution has long been laid on the septic tanks of the multimillion-dollar homes in the gated enclave of Rincon Point.

After nine years of debate and several lawsuits, homeowners are to vote next month on whether to convert from the tanks to a sewer system. While most residents appear to back the conversion, a vocal group of residents is questioning its wisdom, with several saying they feel bullied into paying for an expensive system that would only encourage more development and more pollution.

“There is no evidence that our septic tanks are polluting anything,” said a homeowner, Billy Taylor, who with his wife, Brook Harvey-Taylor, is a surfer and an outspoken opponent. “Are we cleaning up the ocean? Or are we just moving our waste into another part of the ocean?”

Tests in 1999 showed signs of human waste in a creek that runs through Rincon Point into the ocean. But no fecal coliform bacteria were found upstream, which proponents of a sewer system say proves the septic tanks are responsible.

Opponents of the change say that since 1999 malfunctioning or old septic tanks have been repaired or replaced. Lauren Orlando, a wastewater expert from Boston University whom they brought in, said that the tests proved nothing and that the bacteria could have come from the diaper of a child swimming in the creek or ocean.

If the sewer vote passes, the owners of Rincon Point’s 72 homes will have to pay about $80,000 each to build the infrastructure to hook up to the waste treatment center in the city of Carpinteria, next to Rincon. The state would contribute about $2.1 million.

In part because Rincon Point property is so valuable — a beachfront cottage considered a “tear down” by at least one agent is now listed for $4.4 million — most residents can afford to pay, either up front or over 30 years.

An environmental advocacy group, Heal the Ocean, has been pushing for sewers for nine years. But Hillary Hauser, who recounts founding the group because surfers asked her to help clean the water off Rincon Point, says “misinformation” could derail the project. Ms. Hauser pointed to what the Carpinteria Sanitary District’s general manager, Craig Murray, said were “absurd” reports that homeowners were being asked to bankroll the project because it is critical to developers of a proposed resort.

Still, Ms. Hauser was optimistic the sewer project would pass because of homeowners like Steve Halsted, who says the “silent majority” of residents support the sewer.

Mr. Halsted said the public perception of Rincon Point was of “ a lot of rich people polluting their ocean.”

“It’s time we do the right thing and get off of our septics and onto sewers and get this cloud away from us,” he said.

Some homeowners also say they want sewers so they can add bathrooms and bedrooms to their homes and not have to worry about litigation or alternative treatment systems that could require permits.

The ballots, which have been mailed to homeowners, will be tallied at a public meeting in Carpinteria on Oct. 16.

If the sewer is turned down and more fecal bacteria is found, enforcement action against individual homeowners is possible, said Harvey Packard of the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board. But it is not clear how violators would be identified. Ms. Hauser speculated that homeowners could be required to put dye in their tanks, so polluters could be singled out.

Hugh Kaufman, a senior engineer with the federal Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, said that too often sewers were thought of as the only solution for water pollution.

“In Rincon, it appears to me the biggest problem for the ocean is the discharge from the sanitary district going into the ocean,” Mr. Kaufman said. “If it is a problem with a particular septic tank, that’s easy and cheap to fix, a heck of a lot cheaper than sewering an area.”

But Mr. Murray and Ms. Hauser noted that the district dumps treated water into the ocean 1,000 feet offshore — not into Rincon Point’s creek.

In Southern California, it is common practice for people to stay out of the water for days after rain because of runoff pollution. But surfers often opt to take their chances in places like Rincon Point and Malibu, which has problems similar to Rincon Point’s.

“I don’t think you can blame the septic tanks for the pollution,” said Ray Gann, who has been surfing Rincon since 1962. “We get surfers getting sick up and down the coast.”

Other surfers disagree. Wayne Babcock, a cofounder of Clean Up Rincon Effluent, said that the beach at Rincon Point was “notorious” for making surfers sick and that the homeowners should be forced to stop using septic tanks. When asked why they continue surfing here, Mr. Babcock and other surfers waxed poetic.